Foxy Doctor's Duty
by konARTISTE
Summary: SanoXMeg twoshot. Megumi happens upon a brooding Sanosuke. Can she mend his heart? Cavity Alert.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I hereby declare that... I ain't got nothing on me, pal!**

**:) please enjoy and review.**

**Magically Yours.**

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Swiftly, Takani Megumi washed her hands, arms and face with anti-septic soap. It was early in the evening and she had just delivered a young woman of her first child. It had been a short but difficult delivery and Megumi could not help but to feel a bit tired.

She returned to the couple with their newborn son and smiled at them.

'Once again, congratulations with your beautiful son,' said Megumi to the couple and took the aid kit from the cabinet, 'make sure to come by next week for a check-up. And Chiro-san? Rest and please do not forget to take your medicine on the right time.'

The father bowed. 'You are too kind, Takani-sensei.'

'It's all right.' She once again smiled. 'I'll take my leave. Good evening.' After a bow, the young lady doctor left the house and began on the walk back home.

The sun was still setting, causing the sky to become a magnificent red. A cool wind picked up and Megumi shivered.

_Almost home_, she thought and rewrapped her shawl securely around her neck.

When she approached the bridge she had to cross, she noticed a lone figure standing in the middle of it. It looked quite familiar.

_Tori-atama._

Quietly as her geta allowed her, she sneaked up to him, hoping to scare the feathers out of him. But as she came closer, Megumi noticed that his face was not the calm one it usually was.  
Sagara Sanosuke was leaning over the bridge's fence, watching the delicate ripples in the water flow on. His chocolate brown hair that hung before his eyes concealed them from her view. But she could tell from the absence of his usual lazy grin that something was off.

He had not even greeted her yet.

'Sanosuke-san?' Asked the raven-haired woman to the young man, after appearing next to him. She for once dropped the nickname, because it was obvious for her that he was not in the mood for teasing. Else he would have greeted her with a witty comment and teased her in some way. But now he had not even noticed her.

'Sanosuke-san?' She repeated and briefly touched his shoulder.

This gesture shook him out of his reverie. Finally he turned and took notice of her presence. 'Hmm…?' He asked. 'Oh. It's you.'

…

It's you. It is you. It's YOU!

Nope.

No matter how many times Megumi thought his reaction over, it would be in the same disinterested manner.

'Yes,' she replied curtly, 'it is me.'

'Great.' Sanosuke turned his attention back to the river again after making his comment.

'It sounds like you wish I were someone else.' Murmured Megumi, slightly thrown off-course. She waited for a denial or at least a witty remark. But neither of them came.

'Okay, Tori-atama! What is wrong with you?' The doctor demanded from the ex-street fighter.

But he simply shook his head.

'Hmm.' Megumi contemplated her next step. Should she yell, scowl, laugh, mock or leave him be?

'It's getting rather cold.' She said. 'Why don't you come over to my place for a cup of tea and some ohagi?'

Again, the man did not respond in any way.

_No response to free food! Something is definitely wrong with this ahou._

Then she tentatively said: 'I'm sure the one you are thinking about would not want you to get ill.'

Sanosuke's head snapped her way, his eyes widened.

'So I guessed right?' Smiled Megumi, her eyes twinkling. Yet somehow, she had felt a twinge of jealousy. Sanosuke was thinking about someone, someone who was more important than teasing Megumi or free food.

_Never have I seen Sano in this state. Who could that person possibly be? _Thought Megumi in aggravation

Quickly, her fingers wrapped around his, as she noted, muscled arm and began dragging him of the bridge. 'I'm your physician, for Kami-sama's sake. Don't think I will let you get ill in this weather. I will be the one to fix you up again and I'd like to save myself the trouble, thank you very much!'

She glanced back at the brooding young man. He looked a slight bit surprised, but he let her lead nonetheless.

'Megumi-san.' His voice was low and held none of the cheerfulness it had held before.

'Nani?' She responded, but continued pulling him towards the clinic.

'Why?'

After emitting a sigh, she turned to him. 'Why?' She echoed. 'Because I want to. Because it's cold outside and I, being a doctor, care about my patients. And also because you, Tori-atama, look utmost pathetic. That's why.'

The look he gave her then was indescribable and caused shivers to run down her spine. She let go of his arm and they continued their way to the Oguni clinic, wordlessly.

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**End of chapter one.**

** Will not update till reasonable amount of reviews. I know XD I'm demanding.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: I own nothing recognisable, sadly enough.**

**Here you go, minna-san, the second and final part of Foxy Doctor's Duty. Halfway through this chapter I could a bad case of Writer's Block combined with the Sniffles (AGAIN ToT), hence the poor quality of it.**

**Also, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed and I hope I haven't disappointed anyone (too much).**

**Now I will stop wasting your oh-so-precious time which could be used for reviewing hint. **

**Please enjoy reading and restrain from throwing rotten tomatoes at me - I have the Sniffles! - and also don't forget to review!**

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Two figures turned at a corner. A chilly breeze grazed their bare skin and played with their hair. The sky was a deep purple with thin stripes of clouds here and there in the sky as if they were brushstrokes made by an absent-minded artist. 

The few people, who were outside and caught a glimpse of the two figures, saw them as lovers. With smiles gracing their faces, they continued with what they had been doing previously.

Takani Megumi noticed these smiles and understood them, too.

_Unbelievable. They must think we are lovers..._ Megumi shook her head._ How do people come up with this?_

'We're here.' She announced, rather unnecessarily when they arrived at the Oguni clinic. She glanced back at the young man standing behind her.

Something stirred in her stomach when she saw his serious expression. Nevertheless, she pushed the shoji door open and stepped inside.

With a soft, flowing sound, the hot tea was poured into a cup. Two pale, slender hands picked it up and offered it to Sanosuke, who sat opposite her.

'Have some tea to warm up, Sano-san.'

'Hmm.' When Sano had accepted his cup of tea, he just gazed at it. His shoulders were slumped and he had a look in his eyes that she had not seen before.

Megumi frowned slightly and pushed her hair out of her face. 'Well, Tori-atama… You do not seem your usual self. Something is wrong and I want to know.'

He raised his look from the cup to her face. 'Everything's fine.'

'It's not.' She stubbornly replied. 'You look like you've lost someone special… Am I right?'

A flicker of surprise appeared and disappeared in his coffee brown eyes.

'I am right.' She confirmed and smiled haughtily. 'Okay. Did it happen recently?'

A span of silence stretched out between the two of them before he nodded.

'Ah-hum.' The woman doctor folded her arms. 'A friend, perhaps?'

'She was more than a friend to me.' He softly said and averted his gaze. He seemed so vulnerable all of a sudden.

_She was more than a friend to me. In other words, a girlfriend… Wait. Sano had a girlfriend? _

It was as if a weight had plummeted down her stomach. She had not expected this at all. A strange feeling rose up and to her gut. Jealousy.

_Kami-sama, why am I feeling like this? Sanosuke is just my friend. He is just the freeloader that gambles, fights, drinks and mooches off others. Why do I care if there has been a woman in his life? _

She suppressed the feeling in her gut and asked. 'Would you care to tell me about her?'

'I don't see a reason why.' After his curt reply, Sano turned his attention to his tea again.

Megumi felt the urge to hit him over the head a good twenty times and yell at him: "do you see a reason now?"

Instead, she tried a different approach.

'Is she beautiful?' She asked casually. 'I am sure she is not more beautiful that yours truly.' She flashed him a cocky grin. His eyes stormed with resentment.

_The Kitsune has caught the Rooster. _

'Shut up, Kitsune-onna!' Snarled Sanosuke.

'You mean she _is_ more beautiful than-' She flicked a lock out of her face. 'Me?'

'She was more beautiful than you will ever be.' He bit to her.

'Yeah, right!' Her fox ears appeared and she laughed. 'As if that's even possible! Why don't you prove it to me, lover boy? What makes her so beautiful to you?'

'I'm not telling you!'

Then she taunted: 'what? Are you afraid that little Miss Beautiful cannot compete with me?'

It hurt Megumi to say such arrogant things, but she had to get it out of his system.

With a slam, Sano put the cup of tea on the table. What neither he nor she had counted on was that the force would knock the teapot over and that its hot contents would pour over both his arms.

'Aargh!' Groaned Sanosuke, clutching his burnt arms.

* * *

'First-degree burns, you'll survive. Baka…' Muttered the lady doctor as she wrapped the bandage around his arm. She glanced at his face. 

His expression was gloomy, but not as much as he had been before. His brown eyes were silently observing how her experienced hands took care of his limbs.

Megumi dropped her gaze back to her work again. Tension thickened between them, when all of a sudden his voice broke the silence.

'The first time I saw her was in Shimabara.'

Shocked, Megumi gazed at him. _Is he actually telling me about her?_

She chose not to speak, in fear of saying something completely out of line.

A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

'I found my way to a Christian service where she was preaching. Once the service was over, I followed her and her bodyguard, when a bunch o' corrupt policemen attacked them. So, I defended the two of them and d'you know what she did in gratitude?' He asked her, now grinning softly.

'Err…'

'She slapped me in the face.' He rubbed his cheek against his shoulder. 'Damn, she was so… full of herself!

'After that, she began nursing the policemen! The same lot who had been harassing her. Anyway, I still had her medallion, taken from one of those cops and feeling insulted, I threatened her that I would leave taking along her precious medallion. So that companion of hers, Shouzo, and I had a fight – I learned a new technique from him, now that I mention it – but in the middle of it, I fell of the cliff into the water, taking along her medallion. When I washed up upon a riverbank, I was kinda puzzled at my own behaviour. I wondered why I hadn't just given it back to her…'

He blew some hair out of his eyes.

'After that, I faced many troubles, like chasms and bloodthirsty dogs, but I was, for some reason, bent on returning her medallion. In the end, I fell unconscious and when I woke up, she was tending my injuries!'

Something lurched in Megumi's stomach. She could not define the sensation, so she kept quiet.

'Amazingly, we bickered for quite a while, but there was… this something between us… some kind of chemistry? At one moment we were about to kiss and in the other we were bickering about her brother Amakusa Shougo's intentions and methods. Can you believe it?' He raised his hands slightly, as if to motion the aggravation he had felt at that moment.

'The next moment, she left to get something and I saw my chance. I had lost her medallion, and as I've told you before, I really wanted it to return it to her. So I wrote a note with my apologies and the promise that I indeed would return her precious item to her…'

Sanosuke kept telling and telling, while Megumi wordlessly listened to his shy words and watched his expressive, blushing face. She finished treating his arms.

_He must have really loved her… that he wanted to do all of these things for her. Pure, innocent love is simply radiating off his face while speaking of her. That Sayo must have been a very happy person, to be loved by someone so fiercely. _

Megumi bit her lip. _I wish I knew how it felt being loved like that._

'Wait just a moment, Sano.' She raised a hand to stop him from talking. 'Let me get something to eat.'

Gracefully as ever, she stood up and walked to the kitchen. Her mind still on Sanosuke's words, she lifted the cover from the dish with freshly made ohagi and strolled back to the young man.

When she arrived at the door opening, she could not help but to stand still and watch him. He had not noticed her presence, but was gazing at his aching arms. The ex-street fighter was sitting behind the table, his arms placed in front of him.

_He looks so… vulnerable. _Megumi sighed inwardly. _Since when did I start thinking about him in this way? That Tori-atama is driving me crazy. _

She cleared her throat and sat down next to him, after putting the ohagi in front of him. 'You may continue talking, if you wish.'

'So, then I took her as fast as I could to Ambassador Elsten, who was a doctor as I told you. I was afraid that it was too late and we could not find Elsten-san anywhere. Luckily, we happened across him and right after he checked her, some bad guys attacked us. One of them tried to shoot Elsten-san down, but Sayo… she…'

He stopped abruptly and bit on his lip.

'Sayo jumped in front of him and caught the bullet that was meant for him.' Whispered Sanosuke, almost stoically. 'Crazy girl.'

'Oh, Sano…' Megumi rested a hand on his shoulder. 'I'm sorry.'

'Nah.' He grinned and shook his head. 'That girl's life was already slipping because of tuberculosis, she didn't mind. Nevertheless, I did. I wanted her to live, even though I knew it was impossible. D'you catch my drift? I didn't want her to leave me.

'But I have cried enough for her. She would not want me to be sad.' He smiled, his eyes filled with sorrow. 'Sayo taught me how to love. Moreover, I, in my turn, taught her that even though people's minds are different from yours, it doesn't mean that they are bad - That was what she thought before we met. That only the Christians were good and they would be the only ones to go to heaven.

'Her death was… beautiful, I think,' he said after a moment of rest, 'she told me that she was happy that she had met me. I was holding her in my lap while she bled out the last bit of her life. Before she left me… she wished that we could have met earlier.' He closed his eyes in agony. 'I wished the same too, you know. But some wishes are not meant to be granted.'

The foxy doctor did not know what to do. Never had the man before her shown her his softer side so openly. True, she had caught glimpses of it whenever he would play with Ayame and Suzume or whenever something would happen with one of his friends, but those had been different.

'S-Sano,' breathed Megumi uncertainly, 'what can I say?'

'Don't say anything,' replied the man, smiling once more, 'you don't have to.'

'All right.' Megumi said subdued and gazed at the dish with ohagi. 'Aren't you hungry?'

'What kind of question is that, Kitsune-onna? 'Course I am hungry. I'm still a growing boy!'

Megumi's eyes wandered over his physique. _I would not exactly call him a boy._

…

_Bad Megumi!_

'But why aren't you eating?'

As a response to her question, a sheepish grin stretched on his sharp face. He raised his arms. 'It hurts when I move my arms too much.'

'O, I'm so sorry!' Exclaimed the woman, finally realising her stupidity, and blushed lightly.

'Heh heh.' Sanosuke chuckled and nudged her side slightly. 'It's all right, Kitsune. It's a pretty sight for my eyes to see that an elegant lady like you can blush.'

'Baka…' She muttered, casting a furtive look towards him. She was happy that his mood had lightened considerably since she had dragged him to the clinic. The fire in his dark eyes had returned and the sorrow had lifted from his features. She had been right. He had needed someone to pour his heart out. But now he was even flirting with her!

'Oi, Kitsune!'

Upon his call, she looked up to him expectantly. 'What?'

'I am still hungry.'

After folding her arms, she raised her chin haughtily, peering at him through her half-closed eyes. 'So?'

'You can't starve your patient like this,' said Sanosuke with a playful pout, 'haven't you got something to eat for poor old me?'

'Ohagi.' She curtly pointed her index-finger at the platter.

'That I figured.' He rolled his eyes in annoyance. 'But I can't very well reach out and grab one, can I?'

'Then what do you want me to do about it, Tori-atama?' With once again fox-ears perched on her head, she took one of the dark red balls and took a bite. Not just a bite, no. She took a slow bite in front of his face and licked her painted red lips. 'Mmm… Delicious.'

From the corner of her eye she saw Sanosuke's cheeks flush and jaw drop.

'You vixen!' He gasped in shock. 'You are utmost cruel, do you know that?'

She turned to him, smirking diabolically, and offered him her ohagi. 'Want some?'

To her surprise, he immediately agreed and devoured what she had left. Megumi could not help but to blush when his lips brushed against her digits.

'That hungry?' She then asked, warily.

'I haven't eaten for a whole day. Can you blame me?' Was his reply after he had swallowed the food.

'I suppose I can't.'

'Good. Then feed me some more.' Joked Sanosuke, only to be surprised by a pair of chopsticks stuffing a whole ball of ohagi in his mouth.

With widened eyes on the woman's face, he chewed on the doctor's speciality. When after some intensive jaw work he had swallowed it, he asked: 'what did you do that for? You don't really have to feed me!'

'I'm your doctor. It's my duty.' Replied the foxy lady doctor.

The twinkle in his eyes dimmed. As soon as Megumi noticed this, she added: 'but don't think I do this for every patient, Tori-atama. For you only have I made this exception.' She offered him some more ohagi.

'Really?' He softly asked.

'Honest. Now eat.'

Gratefully, Sanosuke finished the ohagi she had made and lied back on the tatami, after a groan of satisfaction. 'The best meal in ages. Arigatou. For everything.' He said looking up at her with earnest eyes.

'It's okay.' She rested a hand on his shoulder. 'Just make sure you never ignore me like that again.'

'Yeah… Sorry about that.' He offered her a lopsided grin and twinkling eyes. A second later, he chuckled. 'You know… I never actually thought you wanted my attention, Kitsune!'

'Don't get any ideas!' snapped Megumi, her hand pressing on his shoulder.

'That's too hard, Kitsune,' he drawled, 'with you looming over me and your hand pinning me to the floor.'

'Baka…!' She hissed and drew her hand back. Secretly, she was fully enjoying his hearty laugh.

He sat up and cocked his head, his watchful eyes never wavering. 'I'm so lucky.'

Her head snapped up. 'And why is that?'

'I got to see you blush twice. On the same day, too.' He whispered, his words sending shivers up her spine.

With difficulty, she averted her gaze. 'It's getting late, Sanosuke. You should head back home.'

The grin on his face slipped off.

'I see.' He stood up and walked out of the room, heading for the gate.

_Idiot. You've hurt his feelings! _She snapped at herself and hurried after him. At the gate she stopped him by grabbing his jacket.

'You will visit me tomorrow, won't you, Sanosuke?' Megumi softly asked.

Sano turned around and looked down at her, his face hidden in the darkness. 'Do want me to?'

'Of course, you idiot.' She said and smiled.

'Then you will see me tomorrow.' He simply stated.

'Does it still hurt?' She asked, still in a hushed voice.

'What?'

'That she is gone?' Megumi replied.

'Nah.' He shrugged. 'She wouldn't let me stay hurt over it, anyway.' He sighed. 'If there is one thing I have learned since I have met Kenshin, then it's to let the past rest. Sayo is in the past.' Sanosuke leaned against the doorframe. 'Even though I have learned the theory, I have difficulties with the practice. And you, Megumi, helped me with it. I'm so used to cropping it up inside, you know… Luckily, you came and dragged out of it, 'else I would still be sulking around.

'Thanks, Meg.'

'Don't mention it.' She replied, inwardly swooning at the sound of her nickname "Meg".

_Well, he does have a beautiful voice!_

'You can come to me anytime you feel like talking.'

'Thanks again.'

'Do they still hurt?' She repeated. 'The burns?'

'Only a little bit.'

'Hmm, that's good then.' She fidgeted and looked away.

Moonlight streamed through the opening of the gate, illuminating her face, but hiding his, almost strategically.

'Megumi?'

'I must go.'

'Come back tomorrow.'

'Really?' He softly asked.

'Definitely.' She replied and pushed him out of the gate. 'Go and don't forget to come back tomorrow.'

'Like I would forget such a foxy lady like you.' He said as he stepped into the light.

Megumi's heart once again began thumping against her ribcage when her eyes fell on his face. How she loved it.

_I'll never see him as an insensitive freeloader again. Under that tough layer of muscles and very good looks hides a loving young man who can care for someone with his whole heart._

'Bye, Kitsune!' He exclaimed and turned away.

_Yes, now I'm absolutely positive, she thought, I've done my duty and cured him. _

She giggled as she watched him leave. When he had finally disappeared, she turned around. Her eyes fell on the many faces peering out the neighbouring houses.

They were smiling.

_Hmm. They must think we are lovers_… Once more she giggled and disappeared into the clinic.

* * *

OWARI

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**A/n: Don't scowl at me like that. pout. Now I understand where Nobuhiro Watsuki got his inferiority-complex...**


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